Reincarnation??

[laneybug]

What do you think/believe about reincarnation? Explain.

[guppy]

I am not sure if i believe in reincarnation or not..but i do believe in recognizing like souls...i have met people and we have became life long friends..as though we have always known eachother...

[Lon]

Since I am on my 12th go around, of course I believe. I'm getting better with each new person I become.

reincarnation no, resurrection yes. almost the same I guess.

[RedGlitter]

Not really. I accept life after life and other realms but I can't really get behind reincarnation.

[Jamesblonde]

Originally Posted by laneybug

What do you think/believe about reincarnation? Explain.

Re-incarnation is a process that, depending on your level of consciousness, may be used as a means of transport throughout time/space/???. I certainly do not believe that it can be used as a punishment or a reward, it merely offers a developed consciousness a means of broadening it's experience of the universe. Perhaps a less developed consciousness may find itself directed to forms which will benefit its progression.

[spot]

I never quite grasped what this "me" is which is supposed to come back. I'm my memories and my way of thinking. My way of thinking is laid down in my neural pathways and it can't be replicated. My memories are stored away physically as well. I'm tied to this wetware I walk around in.

It seems reasonable to me that the physical body has all the functions needed to generate and support my psyche. Introducing a word like "soul" is an add-on which adds no further functionality to that physical substrate. If there's anything beyond my memory and way of thinking, it isn't me. Does it carry my way of thinking when the wetware which implements that way of thinking no longer exists? That would be not merely redundant duplication but a huge coincidence as well, and the same goes for my memories.

Does a rat have the same duality? Is there a reincarnation of rats as well? Are souls not merely trans-migratory but trans-species too? What part of my makeup is meant to be influenced by a past life as a rat, for goodness' sake. Anything that amorphous isn't me whether it exists or not. I'm what I recall and how I make decisions and none of that is going to be much use to a rat if that's what this superfluous add-on comes back as next time.

[gmc]

Originally Posted by laneybug

What do you think/believe about reincarnation? Explain.

Every bit as believable as the belief that we all go to heaven so long as we follow the correct version of a particular religion.

posted by spot

Does a rat have the same duality? Is there a reincarnation of rats as well? Are souls not merely trans-migratory but trans-species too? What part of my makeup is meant to be influenced by a past life as a rat, for goodness' sake. Anything that amorphous isn't me whether it exists or not. I'm what I recall and how I make decisions and none of that is going to be much use to a rat if that's what this superfluous add-on comes back as next time.

Do women have souls? After all if they came from Adams rib is it likely they have a soul? Such questions puzzled Christian scholars for many years and they came to the conclusion at one point that they did not. Do children not yet self aware have one? If children unbaptised go to hell does a foetus have a soul and if not why is abortion so wrong?

Bloody well hope not.

[zinkyusa]

Depends on how do you define it..I believe that the world we think we live in (time and space) unrolled in an instant (like a big carpet) and is now over. Our minds exist outide of this world of time and space and "view" our so called lives" like watching a DVD..So when the mind chooses to "play" another DVD it is in a sense reincarnated, but has merely picked another spot on the carpet of time to focus in on. Time and space are the same and are not discrete or sequential (and in fact do not really exist). The million dollar question is why does the mind(s) choose to do this?